Symptoms of gallbladder cancer

Gallbladder cancer doesn't usually cause symptoms in the early stages. When you do have symptoms, they can include: 

• tummy (abdominal) pain
• feeling sick 
• yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice)
• an enlarged gallbladder
• weight loss

About the symptoms

Gallbladder cancer is often diagnosed at a more advanced stage than some other types of cancer. At diagnosis, it may have spread outside the gallbladder to areas nearby.

It can be difficult for doctors to feel if your gallbladder is swollen or tender when they examine you. The gallbladder lies behind other organs deep inside your body, so it can be difficult to feel. Many early stage cancers of the gallbladder are found by chance. For example, when someone is having their gallbladder taken out to treat gallstones.

You may get a number of symptoms with gallbladder cancer. Most of these happen in the later stages of the disease. 

Pain in your tummy (abdomen)

You can get an aching feeling on your right side if you have gallbladder cancer. Some people describe it as a dragging feeling. If the cancer or gallstones block the bile duct, you will have a sharper pain.

Feeling or being sick

This is very common in the later stages of gallbladder cancer.

Over half the people diagnosed with gallbladder cancer will feel or be sick quite often at some stage of their illness. This is usually fairly easy to control with anti sickness drugs.

Jaundice

Jaundice means either that your liver is not working properly, or that there is a blockage in your biliary system. The symptoms can include:

• yellowing skin and whites of the eyes
• severe itching in some people
• darkened urine
• pale coloured stools (bowel movements)

Jaundice is caused by a build up of bile salts in the blood. If cancer blocks the common bile duct, the bile can't drain away into the bowel as it normally would. So bile salts build up in your blood and body tissues.

The bile salts make your skin and the whites of your eyes look yellow, and your skin itch. They also make your urine darker than normal. Because the bile is not passing into your bowel, your stools will be much paler than normal.

Remember - having jaundice does not always mean you have cancer. A viral infection of the liver (hepatitis) is a much more common cause of jaundice than gallbladder cancer.

Gallbladder enlargement

If your bile duct is blocked, your gallbladder will fill up with bile and get swollen and enlarged.

Your doctor may be able to feel this during a physical examination but is more likely to see it on an ultrasound scan.

Other symptoms

Less common symptoms include:

• loss of appetite (anorexia)
• loss of weight without dieting
• a swollen tummy (abdomen)

Abdominal pain is a sign of many diseases that are far more common than gallbladder cancer. But it is best to be safe. So if you have any of these symptoms, do see your doctor. Most health problems are much easier to treat when they are found early.